“Ignorance is bliss” has been a constant cliche in my life since the seventh grade, when bullying was presented as a topic of worry in classrooms. Suddenly, snarky comments were reported by my classmates, accounts on social media were on a close watch, and every constructive comment sounded like “bullying.”

I have never been the master of ignorance, but contrary; it is extremely hard for me to let events go over my head. If something is bothersome, I will seldom ignore it, and sometimes even blow it out of proportion. During my high school career (which is quickly ending), I have been a constant admirer of the individuals who can take a situation and not examine it forward, backward, upside-down, and all around.

If people truly believe in the over-used cliche, bullying would not be an issue, because individuals would not bully in the first place. I am in no way bashing the idea that bullying is, indeed, a horrible action that definitely deserves to be reprimanded; however, I am a firm believer that ignorance is not bliss. If there is a problem, the problem should not be ignored.

I cannot say that I have not tried to master the art of ignorance, but it has never truly taken root due to the bottling of emotions, which are even worse than impulsively causing a commotion as soon as a tedious event occurs. Ignorance is like a loan: the more one allows ideas to sit and simmer, the more bothersome the ideas will grow, much like financial interest.

Similarly, ignorance does not lead to any kind of relief, either. If the action of a counterpart is bothersome, it should not be ignored, whether this is in a relationship, or the kid who knocked down books from another kid’s hands in the middle of the hallway. No matter how minor, I do not believe an act of wrongdoing should be deemed as something worth ignoring. I am at times surprised at the amount of times I have seen individuals walking right past an incident of bullying.

Essentially, if ignorance is synonymous to the bottling of feelings, it is not bliss, but rather, an abyss, and I have been a victim of this for a long time.

I am not certain whether or not being persistent is an anecdote for the prevention of ignorance, or if ignorance leads to more happiness in the end. However, I am a person who demands to know facts, whether they hurt me or not.

Entering a new self-dependent stage in my life, I have come to the conclusion that I will refuse to ignore occurrences that bother me. Standing up for what I believe in has been the sole purpose of my high school career, and I intend to carry on my philosophy further. I will do so by not ignoring bothersome situations.

Perhaps I will never overcome my fondness of being incessant to know facts. At least I’ll be informed, and I will always help with books strewn in the hallway.